Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 9, 1 September 1996 — ʻAI PONO, E OLA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ʻAI PONO, E OLA

EAT RIGHTAND LIVE WELL

Eat more, weigh less

by Dr. Terry Shintani How do we "eat more, weigh less" on the Mainland? For years I have been talking about how improving our diet in Hawai'i ean help improve the health of

many Hawaiians and even save their lives. I But mueh of what I I have been saying has I been in the context of I people who live in I Hawai'i, where poi I ean be obtained and I where there is an I abundance of "loeal" I ethnic foods, some of | whieh is low in fat.

tasty, and quite healthful. So what about those living on the Mainland? A lot of Hawaiians live there. There is a special interest in reaching Hawaiians in L.A. because the Southern

California area is where there is the largest population of Hawaiians outside of Hawai'i. What is of some eoneem on the Mainland is that the diet of the average "Mainlander" tends to be even higher in fat that it is in

Hawai'i. Meat eonsumption tends to be greater and there is a heavier reliance on high fat items such as butter, cheese and oils. How to eat more, weigh less The secret of how to "eat more, weigh

less" was revealed in the Wai'anae Diet Program where participants ate until satisfied and found that despite eating more food, they still lost weight (average weight loss in 3 weeks was 4

to 17.1 pounds). The key to doing this was demonstrated in the characteristics of poi, whieh fills the stomach without filling you up with calories. It takes 9.1 pounds of poi to provide one day's worth of calories. The simple logic is this: most people will not eat 9. 1 pounds of anything in a day. Actually, studies indicate that an average person will eat up to about 4.1 pounds of food per day and be satisfied. Thus, poi helps us to lose weight because it is so filling that we ean be eompletely full on this food and yet the ealone content is not enough to maintain our weight. As a result, we ean eat as mueh as we want of poi and we still will lose weight automatically.

How to do this on the Mainland How do we apply this principle where poi is unavailable? There are literally thousands of foods that have this characteristic of helping to lose weight. And as long as you select foods that require more than 4.1 pounds to provide a day's worth of calories, you will have a diet that helps you lose weight but will also have infinite variety and taste. How do we apply this principle in real life (especially on the

Mainland)? It's simple. The "Eat More Index (EMI)," translates this principle to eommon foods in any grocery store, even on the Mainland. The EMI is a table I created in the Eat More, Weigh Less Diet book to help you find foods that will help induce weight loss. It is a table that describes food on the basis of how many pounds of it is required to provide one day's worth of calories.

As you see, the EMI value of poi is 9.1 lbs whieh means it takes 9. 1 pounds of poi to provide one day's worth of calories. There are also numerous other foods that rate higher than 4.1 lbs and require more than 4.1 lbs to provide a day's calories. So these are foods you ean eat as mueh as you want of and still lose weight. There are thousands of such foods. Beef and mayonnaise on the other hand rate below 4.1 (1.9

an 0.8 respectively) and will contribute to weight gain. So these are foods you should avoid. How to do it in Los Angeles For the people of Los Angeles, I will be conducting an "Eat More, Weigh Less" seminar on Sunday, September 22, at the L.A. Airport Marriott from 8:01 a.m. to 1 1 :57 a.m. At this seminar, I will be describing how to apply this concept to daily life for people who live in L.A. or anywhere else in the U.S. I will describe how you ean eat twice as mueh food and still lose weight. This involves using the "Eat More Index" I described above to help you find foods that cause weight loss. Then I wjll describe the one category of foōS to avoid, to help you lose weight while you sleep. There are numerous other topics that I will cover in this seminars. If you would like more information or would like to register, please eall 1(808)769-1788. If you live in Hawai'i and are interested in a Honolulu seminar please leave your name and number at 521-3097 and we will eontact you when the next Honolulu seminar will take plaee.

Here is a sample of the table: Food Fat% EMI Poi 1% 9.1 lb Brown rice 5% 4.6 lb Potato 1% 9.6 lb Corn 8% 6.5 lb Apple 9% 9.4 lb Beef 65% 1.91b Mayonnaise 98% 0.8 lb